Pop Art

(movement, mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States-present)

One of the most used type of art especially in advertising and mass culture is the pop art. Pop art became popular in Britain in the mid-1950s and has emerged in the United States in the late 1950s. In the beginning of its emergence, pop art has been challenged because this kind of art is very unconventional and so different from the traditional fine arts. This is because it simply does not employ any of the traditional techniques most types of artworks have.
Unlike those of paintings from the masters of art, where there is a delicate touch, making sure that the brushstrokes are refined and consistent, pop art requires less of that or perhaps none at all. In most cases, when collage art is made, only cut-out pictures and glue are needed to make it work in a blank paper or board.
Among the most famous artists that gained popularity and have introduced pop art were Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselman and Roy Lichtenstein. Their works of art have started to influence the advertising arts. These artists have created abstract pop art that has made marks in the art culture.
What makes pop art very distinct among other forms of art is the idea that it does not actually focus on the art or how it really looks but more on the meaning and attitudes that it will lead to. Pop art usually uses different art materials and often in abstract or collage form. Most of the things or images used are not related they give meaning when they are already combined, giving a certain message to its audience.
Comics are also considered as pop art. Popular comic characters have come alive and became a staple particularly to those who have followed nice stories that are being told. In fact, in these recent years, the different comic stories have now been portrayed in films and television shows, making them very popular in the entertainment industry.
Pop art says a lot on advertising particularly in product branding, labeling and logos. These logos have been into popular art because they are against the most conventional art that people are used to. Pop art says to have most impact in commercialism considering that people are enticed to buy what is sold in the market.
Pop art is basically present in our day to day life. For instance, you go to the mall and all you can see are pop art posters promoting anything and everything. Pop art is definitely instilling ideas in the mindset of people of buying something they need and want; that is pop art’s greatest advantage in the advertising field.
Since the emergence of the latest technologies, the pop art culture has evolved as well. Before, everything was done manually; now, pop art can be done using computers. Cinematic features can be added to give any work of art more appeal to its audience. This also entails that pop art is no longer limited or available to few but can also be done especially by the masses.

After the Second World War came the birth of the consumer society. The American way of life, with its emphasis on growth, quantity, consumption and fun, dominated western values. But underneath, many of the same old dark forces raged on: war - Berlin, Korea, Vietnam; racial unrest; the political intolerance of the early 1950s. Among the young, new values awoke, and protest movements sprang up…

While the term Pop Art is widely known nowadays, its artistic scope and the issues it raises are nonetheless frequently misunderstood.
Pop Art in Britain refers to a group of artists who began appearing on the scene in the mid-1950s. This identity was formed around The Independent Group, an intellectual circle consisting of the painters Eduardo Paolozzi and Richard Hamilton, the architectural partnership of Alison and Peter Smithson, and the art critic Lawrence Alloway. In its theoretical explorations, The Independent Group focused on a theoretical exploration of technology, hence the recurring references to science-fiction in British Pop Art.
American Pop Art had no explicit linkups with British Pop Art and refers to a tendency that arose from individual initiatives. Though it was not a structured movement in the sense of a group putting on collective shows, it does however have a certain coherence. In general terms, it emerged from the work of Robert Rauschenberg and, chiefly, Jasper Johns, and is characterised by an interest in ordinary objects, irony, and a faith in the potency of images. American Pop Art has its home specifically in New York, where at the outset artists such as Claes Oldenburg and Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol exhibited, then James Rosenquist, George Segal and Tom Wesselman…

Pop art was pioneered in London in the mid-1950s by Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi (members of the Independent Group), and in the 1960s by Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield, David Hockney, Allen Jones, and Peter Phillips. It was supported by such critics as Lawrence Alloway and Reyner Banham….

This exhibition celebrates the promised gift of an important collection of sculptures, paintings, drawings, and prints, featuring later works by leading figures of the American Pop Art movement: Robert Indiana, Alex Katz, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, and others. Also included are works from the museums distinguished permanent collection, provided a broad historical overview of Pop art, particularly as it has been practiced the artists represented in this gift, not only in the 1960s, but throughout their careers…pop art book Pop Life: Art in a Material World. Provocative and entertaining, Pop Life examines how artists since the 1980s have cultivated their public persona as a product, and conjured a dazzling mix of media, commerce, and glamour to build their own brands.